My first death ray laser!

Some of the most challenging parts of this monster were the largest.  This was the heaviest of all the pieces, even without the extra pipes and tubes!

I had to keep the colors on this relatively simple, due to the nearby object source lighting on the gun itself.  I didn't want the viewer to get too caught up in this maze!!

Slight weathering began on the other pieces as well, so that it would match the previously painted vehicles.  Also, with this many exposed parts, the weathering was the only real method of preventing a sea of endless grays!

Sometimes it was difficult to orient the pieces to tell which way gravity might affect them.  Again, I felt that a few rust and grime streaks here and there would give a low level boot to areas that could get very monotonous, without drawing undue attention to them.

The main coupling/gun carriage really benefited from a touch of rust and streaks.

Did I mention that this came in a few pieces?

As some of these sections were assembled, I came to the conclusion that I would not be permanently gluing the giant gun or the front wheel assembly in place.  Not only would it be nearly impossible to ship, but taking it to a game or tournament would also be very hazardous.

I continued with a little more weathering as these sections were assembled, because as I did this, more context was provided for me as to how much or how little weathering might be needed.

The monster begins to take form!

Had this been a more standard, closed in vehicle, I would have completed the painting in my usual methods.  With all the exposed parts and difficult angles created by them, I had to use my very rare "powder painting" techniques to complete the process.

This was not used exclusively for weathering, as some might assume.

In fact, this was intended to create more shading in difficult to reach areas, or even more light!  Here you see me mixing a variety of powders, including some Secret Weapon pigments, to paint the housing on the front to rear wheel assembly junction.  

I used the pigment fixer from Secret Weapon to turn the powders into a liquid paint.  This was great, because I could get it into an impossible to reach area, push the powders around with my fingers, and more.

You can even smooth out some blending by mixing the powders together, and painting with them

This was my favorite bit, taking the Secret Weapon blue pigment and working on the glowing gun.  I had set everything up by painting in the lighter shades, even using the Vallejo fluorescent paints.

Now I took the blue pigment and shaded some of the hard to reach areas.  However, where the base colors of the metals or whatever was darker, that same powder created a very nice subtle glowing effect!

I even hit the cooling panels on the left side of the image with this powder color.  Instant glow, but very toned down.  A tiny bit of this powder shade was also placed on the vehicle parts directly below it.

They are so minimal, you may never pick them out.  However, that small hint was all I was after.

I took as many pictures of the completed tank as I could, so I will process those and make a post or two for you all to see!! Stay tuned.

Nerve Center

As work progressed on the massive Mechanicum vehicle, I noticed that the most elaborate work was needed on the smallest and least visible sections!

The Control Center was certainly chief among those concerns.  Not only did you have all the various panels and diodes, but there were two pilots and a rotating plasma cannon between them!

Getting all three of those to fit together was not very easy.  I lost track of how many time I had to reposition those two crew.  Placing them in the best position relative to the control panels meant leaving no room at all for the plasma cannon.  Since the two forward cannons rotated so easily, I felt like this one also had to be able to rotate.

This assembly holds the front tracks in place, and links them to the larger rear section.  It was not easy to get the brush down into some of these deep areas!

While the entire Mechanicum army that I painted was 'red', there was very little actual red in any of the mechs, vehicles, or troops!

The only red on this gigantic tank was the robes on the pilots and the cowlings of the track assemblies.

The smaller front section had the two part exposed interior, just like all the previous vehicles I had painted.

But wait, there's a LOT more!  This large piece had to carry three major pieces... the targeting mechanism, the control center, and a few pounds of resin ray gun. :-)

Oh, and it also had to attach to the front set of wheels!

Here's what it looked like with the control center attached.  

This 'hangs' off the back, which was a strange orientation.  One thing I began to discover with this vehicle is that it has minimal attachment points.  There's a lot of weight hanging on or sitting on tiny little pegs or openings.

When this is shipped, it is going in sections.  There's no way it could ever survive that trip.

I have one more post to show you of all the various pieces.  It will give you a peek at some of the methods I tried to use to get various effects on a somewhat clumsy to handle kit.

Stay tuned!

What could this be?

The next few posts will give you a peek at a massive project that has been under way for some time.  It's not exactly a step by step process, but a glimpse into the realm of the gargantuan.

You are seeing a handful of pieces from a huge Forgeworld Mechanicum vehicle, which I ingeniously labeled the "Ray Gun Tank".  Yes, not terribly creative.

This control center is just one tiny section, barely visible now that it is all assembled.

Some individual parts weigh over a pound... solid chunks of resin.

This is the targeting mechanism, and even this is several inches tall!  Everything that you are seeing at this point is in the shaded basecoat phase.

As usual, there are a few "pilots".

These are the smaller wheel assemblies, not kidding.  The rear wheels are even larger.  Each one comes in two pieces, as there is an exposed interior.

This view is a more finished version of the control center.  Future articles will have a little more action in them... just a tease for right now!

Hello... Operator?

I was really looking forward to seeing this chap join the emerging French Bolt Action army.

You've already seen the article on how he was based... now that base has some fun foliage on it too!

The foliage is from Gamer's Grass, one of four different colors available.  In this case, I used the darker summer shrubs.  I will also be using the lighter spring tufts as well.

These top views give you a good look at those shrubs, and how they look in combination with a few other types.

I'm still nervous about spending points on forward artillery observers and air strikes.  Something tells me that most of them will end up landing on me!!

Shrubs in no time!

Here's a wonderful new item from Gamer's Grass which we have just gotten a chance to use for the first time.  These shrubs are excellent, easy to use and very tough.  

For the moment, these are the various types, which can add instant foliage to any base.

The white shrubs are particularly nice, since they can be dual purpose winter flock or white flowers.

The spring and summer shrubs also work nicely with many other types of foliage, and even nicer when combined with regular grass tufts!

I had to try some out on recently completed figures, including the Reaper centaur figure that I did at Marcon.  I pulled off the shrub with the tool, so that I didn't smush the foliage, and it made a very easy contact point to glue it to the base as well.

I have already used some of these on my recently completed Bolt Action French, with some very fun results!!

Cathy combined the purple shrubs with the grass tufts on this piece:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/222116164461?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

You can get these from Gamers Grass, along with all of the regular grass tufts as well!

http://www.gamersgrass.us/

Firing Line

Here's archer number four from the First Age Elf set.

And yes, he also has a different freehand pattern on the cloak.  Not massively different, but just enough to distinguish him from the others.

I also added the tufts of flowers to the base for another touch of individuality.

Spring Flowers

While we were at Marcon, we were joined by Sandra Garrity, sculptor of many figures that we have painted over the years.  We even got a chance to do a panel together, which was a lot of fun!

Sculptor and painter joining forces to give folks a taste of what it's like to work in miniatures.

During that panel, I was painting this classic figure from Reaper, utilizing the new webcam in order to project the image on a laptop screen so that people could watch in more detail as it was being painted.  This was an interesting new way of doing live demos!

Obviously it was a fun way to practice for the Google Hangouts as well.

There's also something added to the base which I will be showing off a bit more tomorrow, and that is the purple tufts.

It is one of several new types of foliage from Gamers Grass, and they are AMAZING!  Cathy has also used some on another Sandra sculpt, which you will see tomorrow.

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/322106805585?